While publicly urging Americans to avoid family gatherings and maintain &#8220;social distance,&#8221; Dr. Anthony Fauci was also busy behind the scenes cultivating a chummy friendship with CNN anchor Jake Tapper.
Fauci&#8217;s meetings and family dinners with the longtime CNN personality were revealed in a series of <a href="https://www.paul.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2026.07.24_Tonys-Diary-Package.pdf">diary entries</a> made public on Saturday by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who uncovered them during his lengthy and thorough investigation into Fauci and the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The former White House chief medical adviser thoroughly documented his actions throughout the pandemic — with a heavy focus on his own media appearances and coverage, particularly when it was overly flattering — and referenced an interview with Tapper that took place on April 12, 2020. During that interview, Fauci conceded that Tapper had asked tough — but reasonable — questions, and then had called him directly afterward to make sure that the interview had not caused him &#8220;any problems.&#8221;
&#8220;Potential big problem (we shall see). NY Times reporting on an answer to a question that I gave on CNN yesterday (see above). Jake Tapper asked me if we had closed down earlier, whould (sic) that have saved lives. I said it is complicated; he persisted and I said obviously, if you close earlier there would have been lives saved, but the decision was complicated,&#8221; Fauci wrote. &#8220;I could have answered the question better and with more clarity, but the Times is now saying that I was implying that the POTUS was to blame for additional deaths according to me. The far right is tweeting to fire me. The POTUS even re-tweeted the tweet that said to fire me. We shall see how the day goes &#8230;&#8221;
Fauci said that he later met with President Donald Trump, who said that he did not have an issue and business continued as usual.
Of the press briefing that followed, he said, &#8220;I went out and explained that I was being hoest (sic) in my answer to Jake, but that I was not implying that anyone was responsible for more deaths &#8230; Phone call with Jake Tapper. Jake wanted to make sure the interview did not cause me any problems.&#8221;
Later that month, Tapper spoke with Fauci about an interview he&#8217;d done with Coronavirus coordinator Deborah Birx. Of that exchange, Fauci wrote, &#8220;I was not on Sunday shows. Deb was on CNN with Jake Tapper and did not answer the question of whether it was a mistake for the POTUS to talk about injecting or swallowing bleach. Jake wrote me a text afterwards and said: “Birx has lost her way I fear. She has chosen to focus on defending the president and attacking the press. Odd.&#8221;
On May 4, 2020, Fauci referenced a CNN interview in which Tapper had been hard on the Trump administration&#8217;s &#8220;inadequate&#8221; response to the pandemic — but had spared him the ire reserved for the president: &#8220;Jake Tapper did a segment last night on the inadequate response of the Trump administration to the pandemic. I came out relatively well.&#8221;
Later that month, when Katie Miller, a spokesperson for Vice President Mike Pence, tested positive, and Fauci was directly exposed to SARS-CoV-2, he got a call from Tapper making sure that he was all right.
&#8220;Jake Tapper called me and asked whether I was going inot (sic) quarantine. I explained to Jake that I would do a “modified quarantine” since I was a low risk exposure to Kstie (sic). Thid merans (sic) that I will get tested every day, would wear a mask ontinually (sic), and would spend most of my time either alone in my home office or alone in my NIH office and would go to White House or Congress with precautions of universal mask wearing and phycial (sic) distancing. I tested negative yesterday and will get tested every day for 14 days and then 1 time per week,&#8221; he wrote, adding in a subsequent entry that Marc Short was not taking enough precautions.
&#8220;Marc Short (whom I resally (sic) like) practically sits on Katie’s lap and he is vey (sic) close to the VP. Yet he is not even wearing a mask. He actually should be self-quarantining. He was at a much greater risk than I.&#8221;
On July 1, Fauci mentioned a dinner with Tapper and his wife: &#8220;Had dinner over Jake Tapper and Jen Tapper’s home in DC. Terrific couple. Friendship building.&#8221;
By late July, Fauci was feeding questions to Tapper ahead of interviews with other officials: &#8220;Brett Giroir on Tapper (State of the Union) talking bullsh*t about testing with Jake pressing him. I gave Jake some questions to ask him.&#8221;
And Tapper was calling Fauci to complain about President Trump: &#8220;Jake Tapper woke me up at 11:23 AM (I went to bed early) furius (sic) at POTUS for tweeting about the fact that Jake severly (sic) questioned Brett Giroir on SOTU CNN show today. Jake was really pissed at the craziness of it all.&#8221;
In later entries — into the fall of 2020, as Americans were preparing to host holiday dinners via Zoom — Fauci mentioned another dinner at the Tapper home: &#8220;Had dinner at my home with Jake and Jennifer Tapper. Relaxed, good time. Jake clearly believes that Trump is totally nuts.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Tapper texts Fauci to attack Laura Ingraham and defend the integrity of Dartmouth <a href="https://t.co/pLW5c1zuja">pic.twitter.com/pLW5c1zuja</a>
— Emily Jashinsky (@emilyjashinsky) <a href="https://x.com/emilyjashinsky/status/2081488487337906438?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 26, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
In a later exchange, after Fauci appeared on Fox News with host Laura Ingraham, Tapper texted to mock Ingraham, saying it was a shock that she&#8217;d graduated from Dartmouth.

Anthony Fauci

Inside Fauci’s Behind-The-Scenes Bromance With Jake Tapper

COVID-19

Donald Trump

Jake Tapper

Legacy Media

Mainstream Media

Media

Media Bias

Pandemic

Politics

Rand Paul

Elon Musk lit the fuse and didn’t look back.
In a blistering face-off with The Economist Editor-in-Chief Zanny Minton Beddoes, the world’s richest man brushed off claims he’s widely despised and flipped the script, insisting it’s the media that’s truly hated.
After Beddoes criticized him for his involvement in European politics, saying, “Why should you be able to shape European politics? You don&#8217;t even live there,” Musk responded mildly, “I think of it as sort of the West collectively.”
“But do you see why this makes people think that this man who has all this power, he&#8217;s the world&#8217;s richest man, he thinks he has a right to influence our politics,” Beddoes pressed. “It makes people, it&#8217;s why, you know, we started this conversation saying superlatives. It&#8217;s why people loathe you. I mean, some people do loathe you.”
Musk then took the gloves off: “Yes, some people do. &#8230; Maybe some people do loathe me, and that&#8217;s probably true. I don&#8217;t care. But the fact that as you pointed out, a quarter billion people follow me is that I think a lot more people actually like me than don&#8217;t. And I think a lot more people hate you and the media more than you realize. Do you realize the media is despised?”
“The shoe is on the other foot,” Musk said, citing rock-bottom trust in journalism. “They hate you far more than they hate me.”
Beddoes had challenged Musk over his vocal support for what she described as far-Right parties across Europe. Musk rejected the label outright, arguing he’s simply backing “normal people” and mainstream policies like border security, safe cities, and controlled spending.
“What you call the far-Right falsely … these were completely normal positions 10 or 15 years ago,” he said, accusing critics of rewriting the political center.
He also took direct aim at journalists, warning that their portrayal of Right-leaning movements as extremist is “false and misleading and nonsense.”
The clash intensified over Musk’s repeated warnings about the United Kingdom — including his claim that “civil war in Britain is inevitable.” Beddoes pushed back hard, citing falling crime rates and her own experience living in London, calling Musk’s depiction exaggerated and harmful.
Musk stood firm.
“If current trends continue, it is,” he said, pointing to what he described as a growing population with values “antithetical to the West,” which he believes will inevitably spark conflict.
The two also sparred over free speech, with Musk condemning European governments for prosecuting social media posts and warning that censorship is a growing threat.
“That’s the sort of thing that I think is bad,” he said, while accusing the media of ignoring these issues.

Elon Musk Meets with Senate Republicans

Elon Musk Flips The Script On Leftist Editor-In-Chief Who Says He Is ‘Loathed’

Elon Musk

Europe

United Kingdom

“Top Gun: Maverick” star Miles Teller explained this week why he avoided profile interviews for more than a decade. The 39-year-old star said it all traces back to writer Anna Peele from Esquire calling him a “d*ck” in her piece.
“That was so mishandled,” Teller <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/features/interviews/miles-teller-cannes-interview-paper-tige-1235194680/">told</a> IndieWire in Cannes as he promoted his upcoming film, “Paper Tiger.”
“The reason why I have not done profiles is because I said, ‘Wow, if I’m not doing this interview on camera, this person can misquote things or put things out of order or say things that didn’t happen.’ It felt like such a violation of what actually transpired.”
The 2015 <a href="https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/interviews/a36894/miles-teller-interview-0915/">Esquire profile</a> in question opened with the line, “You’re sitting across from Miles Teller at the Luminary restaurant in Atlanta and trying to figure out if he’s a d*ck.”
Later, Peele concludes, “yeah, he is kind of a d*ck,” claiming Teller compared a highball glass to his genitals and generally acted arrogant during their conversation. 
Teller said the whole experience was enough to turn him off to profile interviews completely. 
“I told my team, ‘Guys, I don’t think I’m doing this again, because I’m reading this and this doesn’t sound like me to me. This is not life, so why would I ever want to be a part of something where they can just put that in?&#8217;” he continued. “So it’s unfortunate that being a good person, that doesn’t sell. People want to click on the negativity. If you go to bed and put your head on your pillow and how you treat people truly, that’s what matters. That [2015] interview was like 12 years ago.”
Teller said that in the end, “the actors, the directors, the crew and the producers” know the real him because, “you can’t hide who you are when you’re on set.”
The “Whiplash” star also reacted to the Esquire piece right after it came out, posting on <a href="https://x.com/Miles_Teller/status/629045612567248896">social media</a>, “Esquire couldn’t be more wrong. I don’t think there’s anything cool or entertaining about being a d*ck or an a**hole. Very misrepresenting.”
One year later, he addressed the incident during a conversation with The Guardian in 2016.
“Oh, I felt frickin’ helpless, I felt extremely misrepresented, I felt a little angry,” he <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/aug/21/miles-teller-i-felt-extremely-misrepresented-war-dogs">told</a> the outlet. “For the average person, they are reading this article, they haven’t met you, they’re like, ‘Oh Miles is an a**hole. You didn’t hear it? You didn’t read that Esquire? Yeah, she said he was an a**hole – he must be!’
“I’d say that you get a little more guarded but I’m actually not,” Teller added. “Certain times I’ll choose my words very carefully and maybe come off a little more boring. But I also think that’s why people – certain people – do relate to me: because there is no agenda, honestly. I was raised middle-class in a small town. I have all my same friends from high school. I’m close with my family. I’m dating a normal girl. So I want to feel people think I’m a man of the people. Because I feel that way.”

Miles Teller

‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Star Reveals What Led To His Decade-Long Interview Refusal

Celebrities

Entertainment

Hollywood

Movies

Brian Karem, the longtime White House correspondent and author of “Free the Press: The Death of American Journalism and How to Revive It,” just <a href="https://www.salon.com/2026/04/24/why-im-boycotting-the-white-house-correspondents-dinner/">published</a> a fiery Salon piece declaring he’s boycotting this weekend’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner (WHCD). His reason? President Donald Trump is attending. “I will not be attending,” Karem writes. “I have no desire to participate in this hypocrisy.” He accuses Trump of “discredit[ing], insult[ing] and abus[ing] reporters,” closing off access, suing news organizations, and stacking the briefing room with “right-wing propagandists posing as independent reporters.” He laments a “spineless and worthless” corporate media that won’t fight back hard enough.
If the press is truly under siege, if American journalism is dying, as Karem’s book title insists, then why does one President showing up to a black-tie dinner feel like an existential threat? The truth is simpler, and far more American: The press has never been more free. It’s just no longer the exclusive property of the old gatekeepers.
For decades, the press wasn’t a marketplace of ideas — it was a cozy cartel. Three television networks, a handful of powerful newspapers, and the annual WHCD (affectionately, or not, known as “nerd prom”), where reporters mingled with the very officials they were supposed to hold accountable. Access was everything. Favors were traded over cocktails. Stories that challenged the narrative often died quietly in the editing room.
Karem himself is a product of that system. He successfully sued to regain his press pass during Trump’s first term. He’s covered administrations for years from inside the bubble. Yet now he’s shocked that the man millions of Americans elected twice refuses to play by the old rules. Trump didn’t invent presidential control over White House access — it’s not a public utility, and never has been. Every president has shaped the briefing room to suit his style. What’s different is that Trump says the quiet part out loud, and millions of Americans cheer him for it.
Meanwhile, legacy outlets spent years pushing stories that later crumbled: the Russian collusion narrative (later walked back by intelligence officials), the Hunter Biden laptop promoted as “Russian disinformation,” and COVID-era claims that shifted with the political winds. Trust didn’t evaporate because of Trump’s tweets. It collapsed because Americans could see the spin in real time. Gallup’s latest poll shows just <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/695762/trust-media-new-low.aspx">28%</a> of Americans have a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in mass media — the lowest on record.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/wired-in-live-white-house-correspondents-dinner-special-edition?elementPosition=0&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">Watch the White House Correspondents&#8217; Dinner LIVE on The Daily Wire</a>
The internet shattered the cartel. X, Substack, podcasts, YouTube, and independent sites let anyone with a smartphone and the courage to speak publish instantly. Citizen journalists reach millions without begging corporate approval.
Substack alone has exploded past 35 million monthly active subscribers by 2026, with paid subscriptions growing rapidly as readers vote with their wallets for independent voices. Podcasts and newsletters from moms, veterans, and everyday Americans now influence the national conversation more than evening newscasts ever did. Legacy newsrooms are hemorrhaging staff and subscribers, not because of “right-wing propagandists,” but because competition works. When the old guard calls this the “death of journalism,” what they really mean is the death of their monopoly.
Viewpoint diversity has never been higher. Before 2016, newsrooms in Washington, D.C. and New York City leaned overwhelmingly one way — studies routinely showed that over 90% of political donations from journalists went to Democrats. Conservative perspectives were dismissed as fringe. Today, parallel ecosystems flourish. Trump didn’t kill journalism; he accelerated its breakup into a true marketplace of ideas. Americans can now choose sources that reflect their values instead of being force-fed a single narrative.
Real-time corrections happen daily. The Hunter Biden story suppression, the lab-leak theory dismissal, and “transitory” inflation spin were all exposed not by internal ombudsmen but by independent outlets and the American public.
Legally, the press has never been safer. The First Amendment remains untouched. Presidents have always limited access, issued criticism, and occasionally sued when reporting crossed into falsehood. Trump’s “enemy of the people” line is protected speech, just as the media’s daily insults toward him are. No journalists are jailed. No newspapers are shuttered. Contrast that with actual authoritarian regimes where reporters face prison or worse. Reporters Without Borders may wring its hands, but America still ranks among the freest nations on earth for press freedom.
The WHCA dinner itself proves the point. It’s a celebrity schmooze-fest that raises scholarship money while reporters pose for selfies with power brokers. Karem and more than 250 colleagues (including Dan Rather and Sam Donaldson) signed a <a href="https://x.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/2046181834506096954/photo/1">letter</a> decrying “unprecedented attacks.” Yet the event was never about “vigorous press” — it was about access and glamour. Boycotting Trump because he shows up exposes the hypocrisy: The dinner was fine when it roasted him in 2011 or when comedians mocked him in absentia. Now that he’s back in the room as the elected president, suddenly it’s unbearable.
Karem’s Salon piece is revealing. He praises past colleagues for “standing up” to Trump and laments today’s “compliant reporters” softened by buyouts and diluted by new voices. He wants the old rules back — where a small guild decided the narrative and everyone else followed. Americans rejected that model in 2016, 2024, and again now.
The press isn’t dying — it’s democratizing. It’s becoming more representative, more accountable, and more responsive to the people it serves.
The question isn’t whether the press will survive Trump. The real question is whether the old guard will adapt to a truly open marketplace or keep boycotting reality while the rest of us move forward.
The press has never been more free. And that’s the American way.
***
Bethany Miller is the Director of Communications at NRB, managing editor of The Conservateur, and a senior fellow at Concerned Women for America.

Fake news graffiti

President Trump’s Appearance At The WHCD Isn’t A Threat To Journalism — Journalists Are

DW Opinion

Free Press

White House Correspondents’ Dinner

A Variety writer is getting absolutely annihilated online for his headline about legendary action star Chuck Norris’s death last week.
While most mainstream outlets spoke highly of Norris and his career, William Earl, writing for Variety, chose to focus on the martial arts star’s politics instead. His headline <a href="https://variety.com/2026/film/opinion/chuck-norris-death-politics-legacy-1236695065/">said</a>, “Chuck Norris Was a Great Action Star — but Politics May Overshadow His Legacy.”
In the article, Earl asks, “When a star is the poster boy for American exceptionalism and might, at what point does his legacy transition from escapism to dangerous propaganda?”
Social media critics were not on board with the author’s opinions and weren’t shy about letting him know.
“No normal person thinks about politics when Chuck Norris’ name is brought up,” one X user <a href="https://x.com/chrismartzwx/status/2035158114425594238?s=43">wrote</a> in reply. “However much you hate the press, you do not hate them enough.”
“Chuck Norris was an action legend and a great American. ‘Variety’ is an example of why so many people detest the media,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis <a href="https://x.com/rondesantis/status/2035138429995164036?s=43">agreed</a>.
“What a crappy way to honor a legend. You guys suck,” a third person <a href="https://x.com/ScottApogee/status/2035238328669290927">echoed</a>.
“All day people were telling Chuck Norris jokes. That was 100% shaped by his action movies and shows. Nobody was discussing Chuck’s politics. This is just stupid and lazy Variety. Be better,” another said.
“Chuck Norris remains an American legend whose tough guy roles defined an era. Ignore Variety&#8217;s biased political nonsense,” another commenter <a href="https://x.com/WhisperEpo6823/status/2035097613922422996">agreed</a>.
Norris, who died on March 19, was one of the few unapologetic and wildly successful Christian conservatives working in Hollywood. He advocated for Republican politicians, supported gun rights, pushed for the Bible to be brought back into schools, and published a regular column at conservative website WorldNetDaily, as The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rip-chuck-norris-the-man-who-never-let-hollywood-smother-his-beliefs">reported</a>.
Besides advocating for his faith and for Bibles to return to public schools, the martial arts star was a fervent supporter of the military and took several trips overseas to visit deployed troops. Norris was a patriot with a strong sense of national pride.
He was also a big supporter of President Trump, which clearly didn’t win him any friends at Variety.

Chuck Norris

Variety Writer Dragged For Derogatory Chuck Norris Headline

Obituaries

U.S.

People Magazine and several other outlets are getting dragged for the headlines they used to report the death of cartoonist Scott Adams on Tuesday.
Adams, best known for creating the satirical comic strip “Dilbert,” died at the age of 68 following a terminal cancer diagnosis. Most mainstream outlets stuck to the facts or buried their criticisms of Adams deep in the article copy. The Left despised him for being a conservative and a huge fan of Donald Trump.
But some outlets put their bias front and center. People ran an article by staff writer Victoria Eden, which had the headline: “Scott Adams, Disgraced Dilbert Creator, Dies at 68,” and followed up with the subheading, “&#8217;Dilbert&#8217; was pulled from wide circulation after Adams’ racist rant in 2023.”
Social media followers expressed their frustration over the phrasing.
“You cannot hate the media enough,” one X reply <a href="https://x.com/mattvanswol/status/2011128217609130295">said</a> in response to the article being tweeted from the official People X account. That tweet was later deleted, but the article with the same headline still remains on the website as of Tuesday afternoon.
The outlet also removed Edel’s name from the online article and replaced it with “People Staff” after commenters began calling her out by name on the social media platform.
It wasn’t just People disparaging Adams as they reported on his death. While The New York Times selected a neutral headline on their website, the accompanying social post was more opinionated.
“Breaking News: Scott Adams, whose comic strip &#8216;Dilbert&#8217; was a sensation until he made racist comments on his podcast, has died at 68,” the legacy outlet shared in an X post.
“Stuff like this used to make me angry, but I honestly laughed as your hack behavior is too predictable. You will be hated until your dying days, you have no loved ones, when you die, people will rejoice,” one response to the NYT post <a href="https://x.com/Cernovich/status/2011135485494829274">said</a>.
“You have no shame. Unreal,” echoed <a href="https://x.com/realELFIGURIN/status/2011129288146210992">another</a>.
BBC News went with the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y320k72vyo">headline</a>: “Controversial Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams dies aged 68.” NPR also <a href="https://www.npr.org/2026/01/13/nx-s1-5413219/scott-adams-dilbert-dies">referred to</a> Adams as a “controversial cartoonist” in their article.
“Scott Adams, ‘Dilbert’ Creator Who Courted Controversy, Dead at 68,” the headline from far-Left outlet Rolling Stone <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/scott-adams-dilbert-creator-dead-obtiuary-1235496233/">said</a>.
Some X users contrasted this phrasing to how mainstream outlets covered other notorious figures like convicted sex predator Jeffrey Epstein. For Epstein’s death, The New York Times ran the headline, “Jeffrey Epstein Dead in Suicide at Jail, Spurring Inquiries.”
The controversy these outlets reference goes back to the “Dilbert” cartoon being dropped from major newspapers following an incident in 2023. During a podcast episode, Adams discussed a Rasmussen poll, which found that nearly half of black Americans were unable to agree with the phrase, “It’s okay to be white.” Adams’ reply suggesting that the poll results indicate that black Americans are a “hate group” went viral.
“Based on the current way things are going, the best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from black people. Just get the f*** away,” Adams said at the time after commenting further on race relations and crime.
“Wherever you have to go, just get away. Because there’s no fixing this. This can’t be fixed. So I don’t think it makes any sense as a white citizen of America to try to help black citizens anymore. It doesn’t make sense. There’s no longer a rational impulse. So I’m going to back off on being helpful to black America because it doesn’t seem like it pays off.”

Scott Adams

People Magazine Obit Calls Scott Adams ‘Disgraced Dilbert Creator,’ Spurring Backlash

People Magazine Obit Calls Scott Adams 'Disgraced Dilbert Creator,' Spurring Backlash

Conservatives

Death

Gallup’s <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/695762/trust-media-new-low.aspx">latest survey</a> on Americans’ trust in the mass media paints a stark picture: confidence in newspapers, television, and radio has hit a historic low.
Only 28% of U.S. adults now say they have a “great deal” or a “fair amount” of trust that news outlets report fully, accurately, and fairly. That’s down from 31% last year and a steep fall from 40% just five years ago. In contrast, roughly seven in ten adults express little to no confidence, with 36% saying “not very much” and 34% saying “none at all.” This is the first time Gallup has recorded trust dipping below 30% since it began tracking the metric in the 1970s, when roughly 70% of Americans expressed confidence in the news.
The decline is pervasive across political affiliations. Republicans’ confidence, already weak, has plunged to single digits for the first time, with only 8% expressing trust. Independents remain skeptical at 27%, matching last year’s record low. Even Democrats, historically the most trusting, register a narrow majority of 51%, echoing lows last seen in 2016. Generational divisions further underscore the crisis: adults 65 and older retain relatively higher trust at 43%, while younger Americans across all party lines rarely exceed 28%.
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These survey results come amid repeated high-profile media failures. The New York Times’ <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nyt-was-pressed-to-hedge-on-gaza-hospital-story-but-senior-editors-ignored-warnings-report?utm_source=chatgpt.com">false Gaza hospital story</a> in 2023, which relied solely on a Palestinian source, highlighted a pattern of insufficient verification. Similarly, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-york-times-ignored-examples-of-kamalas-plagiarism-withheld-them-from-cited-expert?utm_source=chatgpt.com">reporting</a> on Vice President Kamala Harris’ alleged plagiarism was criticized for deliberately underrepresenting the scope of the issue, contrasting sharply with how the Times covered similar Republican controversies.
In October, President Donald Trump filed a $15 billion defamation suit against The New York Times. In the <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flmd.447437/gov.uscourts.flmd.447437.9.0.pdf">suit</a>, Trump accused the Times of printing false and defamatory statements about his business career that damaged his professional reputation.
The Media Research Center’s October 2025 <a href="https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/bill-dagostino/2025/11/05/study-tv-news-spends-shutdown-playing-defense-democrats">analysis</a> of network coverage during the government shutdown adds another layer: ABC, CBS, and NBC reportedly framed Democrats favorably while heavily criticizing Republicans, with 87% of coverage skewed toward Democratic talking points and only twelve instances of criticism directed at Democrats.

Portrait of man holding nose

Gallup: Trust In The Media Crashes To Historic Low

Gallup: Americans’ Trust In The Media Crashes To Historic Low

Gallup

The Daily Wire has the youngest audience of any English-language news outlet in the United States, several decades younger than the median-age audience of other conservative news sites.
The average Daily Wire reader is 42 years old, according to a new <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/08/28/how-the-audiences-of-30-major-news-sources-differ-by-age/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">Pew Research Center survey.</a> That’s the second-youngest audience of any American news outlet, trailing only Univision. The Spanish-language network’s median viewer is 39. That’s no surprise, given their base is largely Hispanic — one of the youngest demographic groups in the country. Telemundo, also a Spanish network, follows closely at 42, tied with The Daily Wire.
The Daily Wire has the youngest median audience of any conservative news site. The average Fox News viewer is 55, while the Tucker Carlson Network shuffles in at 57. Compare that with Newsmax and Breitbart, where the median ages clock in at 63 and 62, respectively.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-969593 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-08-at-9.37.01-AM-337x576.jpg" alt="" width="337" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-08-at-9.37.01-AM-337x576.jpg 337w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-08-at-9.37.01-AM-176x300.jpg 176w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-08-at-9.37.01-AM-768x1312.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-08-at-9.37.01-AM.jpg 850w" sizes=" (max-width: 337px) 100vw, 337px" />
Younger Americans are also tuning out of cable and legacy networks, and turning toward digital-first platforms and independent thinkers. CNN lands at 50, well above the national adult median age of 47. CBS, NBC, and ABC all bring in folks in their late 50s.
The Daily Wire’s popularity with young Americans comes as the demographic increasingly tunes out news altogether.
“Younger Americans are also most likely to turn to news influencers, listen to podcasts and generally follow the news less closely,” Pew wrote in a report on its survey. “In 2022, only 19% of 18- to 29-year-olds said they followed the news all or most of the time, compared with 64% of adults 65 and older.”
The Daily Wire is set to make new inroads to younger audiences this week with the premiere of The Isabel Brown Show. Brown, a Gen Z firebrand and popular content creator, is bringing her unique blend of humor and cultural commentary to DailyWire+.
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IT&#8217;S LAUNCH DAY for The Isabel Brown Show with <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDailyWire</a>!
Make sure you&#8217;re subbed to our YouTube channel, where you can catch the episode at 2 PM ET (or anywhere else you get your podcasts)!
ORRRR you can watch an hour early over on <a href="https://twitter.com/dailywireplus?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@dailywireplus</a> 👀…
— Isabel Brown (@theisabelb) <a href="https://twitter.com/theisabelb/status/1965028617634582580?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 8, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The Isabel Brown Show premieres Monday.

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The Daily Wire Has The Youngest Audience Of Any English-Language Site In America: Poll

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demographics

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New York Times

News

MediaFest says it’s the largest media convention in the country, aimed at both student and professional “journalists.” This year, one of our top writers, White House correspondent Mary Margaret Olohan, was set to participate in a session for young reporters on how her faith fits into her work.
Until they found out she was a conservative.
That’s the story from the <a href="https://www.cjr.org/feature/student-journalism-mediafest-fraught-religion-faith-reporting.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Columbia Journalism Review</a>, which revealed yesterday that Olohan and another journalist, The Daily Signal’s Virginia Allen, were pulled from the event after complaints from a he/him “student media adviser” at Oregon State University named <a href="https://see.oregonstate.edu/directory/steven-sandberg">Steven Sandberg</a>.
Sandberg had been “browsing” the event schedule when he saw, according to CJR, a “portion of the conference called the ‘Faith Track’” that included authors with “pretty far-right, anti-LGBTQ language.”
Sandberg alerted the “non-partisan” organizers of the conference and told them that “LGBTQ students are feeling targeted by our administration, by the government, and by society.” Sandberg told them he was “disappointed to see them bring in people who espoused anti-LGBT views,” and they buckled.
Olohan was alerted that she’d been removed from the event by the ethics committee chairman at the Society of Professional Journalists, a man named Michael Koretzky, who told other organizers that they “found reporting problems” with Olohan’s work.
The only problematic article cited from Olohan, who has without question broken more stories of consequence in her young career than Koretzky will in his lifetime, was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-bill-would-block-abortionists-from-flushing-baby-remains-into-public-water-systems?author=Mary+Margaret+Olohan&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=EXCLUSIVE%3A+Bill+Would+Block+Abortionists+From+Flushing+Baby+Remains+Into+Public+Water+Systems" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an exclusive</a> on a bill from Congressman Brandon Gill that would make it illegal to dump aborted baby remains into publicly-owned water systems.
The suggestion from Koretzky was that the article wasn’t balanced enough. Now, if he has an abortionist who would like to defend flushing babies down the toilet, we’d love to dig into that belief. But we never believed the issue was with our journalism, and now, that’s confirmed.
Koretzky was looking for an excuse to cancel Olohan because Sandberg and the pronoun mafia demanded he do so, and the angry left is the real ombudsman of the liberal media elite. And Sandberg was so proud of his work that he ran to the Columbia Journalism Review to tell the story of how he preserved a safe space for his LGBTQ students.
Any suggestion that MediaFest will be a conference with balance is delusional. One of the featured speakers will be New York Times grifter Nikole Hannah-Jones, who has made <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/1619-project-creator-raked-in-1m-last-year-for-college-speeches-on-inequality?author=Luke+Rosiak&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=1619+Project+Creator+Raked+In+%241M%2B+Last+Year+For+College+Speeches+On+Inequality" target="_blank" rel="noopener">millions of dollars</a> spreading lies through the 1619 Project, which argues that systemic racism is in America’s DNA.
We challenge the Society of Professional Journalists to find a single piece of balanced work she’s ever produced, but guarantee that it will find them all as radical as her most recent piece, which <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/28/magazine/charlie-kirk-rhetoric.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">attacked Charlie Kirk as a bigot</a> just a few days after he was laid to rest.
Her session at MediaFest is titled, “How journalists can (and should) cover attempts to erase Black history.” It will be moderated by Koretzky’s colleague at Society of Professional Journalists, Celia Wexler, who serves as the group’s Washington, D.C., president.
We don’t expect Koretzky to get it, nor do we understand how he’s been put in charge of ethics of anything. His body of work includes a 2019 piece inspired by a convention he attended with high school journalists — about all the sex he’s had in his life.
We wish we were joking. Its <a href="https://journoterrorist.com/2019/04/11/news-to-me/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">opening line</a> (we don’t recommend clicking, but it’s hard to believe without the proof) is: “Almost all the sex I’ve had is because of journalism.” It goes on to tell the tale about a time a “sexual encounter” at a journalism conference ended in “bloodshed” because he was bitten on the penis.
Again, he was inspired to write this because he was “presenting a couple of sessions tomorrow to high school journalists.”
A year later, <a href="https://journoterrorist.com/2020/02/12/banned/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he wrote</a> about how he himself was now banned from attending certain journalism events because, he transparently explains, the aforementioned article on his sexcapades.
“We also were contacted by students and spoke with members who were extremely concerned about your blog post related to seemingly non-consensual sex and journalism conventions,” he says he was told. There was also an accusation that he told a student he could “make or break her career.” He denies it.
We’re partly glad Olohan is, as the kids say, “marked safe” from the MediaFest confab, but also disheartened.
Every few years, the liberal media elite proclaim that they care about being balanced and hearing both sides. And we’re sure that every few years there are people who believe them. Don’t be one of those people.
Young journalists don’t need MediaFest or the Society of Professional Journalists anymore. They will teach you to do everything wrong, and you’ll end up like Koretzky or Sandberg.
There are now great alternatives, like the National Journalism Center, The Fund For American Studies, and even conservative undergraduate journalism programs like the one at Hillsdale College.
The young journalists gathering at MediaFest are being trained to believe that there is only one set of acceptable facts, even if it doesn’t fall on the same side as objective truth. The prospect of hearing the other side has media advisers like he/him Sandberg throwing up arms.
The media elite don’t actually believe there are two sides. That’s why when Elon Musk opened up X to free speech, they ran away to BlueSky — which, not coincidentally, is where you can find most of the journalists featured on MediaFest’s panels.
But they’re also not the real elite anymore. Their monopoly on information has shattered, in a large part because Americans are increasingly turning to reporters like Olohan and The Daily Wire for news.

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MediaFest, And Why There’s No Hope For Liberal Journalism

Nikole Hannah-Jones

CBS News announced on Friday that it is changing its policy on interviews with top government officials on “Face the Nation” after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cbs-news-shamefully-edited-interview-to-whitewash-kilmar-abrego-garcias-background-noem-says">blasted</a> the network for “shamefully” editing comments she made on last Sunday’s show.
CBS News initially defended its edits to the Noem interview, arguing that it “met all CBS News standards” and adding that the full interview and transcript were available online. On Friday, however, CBS News backtracked, saying that based on “audience feedback over the past week,” the network will “implement a new policy for greater transparency in our interviews,” The Hill <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5488422-cbs-face-the-nation-changes-kristi-noem-dhs/">reported</a>.
“FACE THE NATION will now only broadcast live or live-to-tape interviews (subject to national security or legal restrictions),” CBS News said. “This extra measure means the television audience will see the full, unedited interview on CBS and we will continue our practice of posting full transcripts and the unedited video online.”
The network got into hot water after its edits to the Noem interview cut the Homeland Security secretary’s response short by 30 seconds when she was discussing the allegations against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal alien at the center of a high-profile U.S. immigration case, The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cbs-news-shamefully-edited-interview-to-whitewash-kilmar-abrego-garcias-background-noem-says">reported</a>. The part of Noem’s comments that CBS News cut out of the version that it aired on “Face The Nation” included Noem saying that Abrego Garcia “was a known human smuggler, an MS-13 gang member, an individual who was a wife beater, and someone who was so perverted that he solicited nude photos from minors.”
Abrego Garcia has denied all of those charges as he fights against the Trump administration’s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kilmar-abrego-garcias-journey-from-maryland-man-to-uganda-man-a-current-timeline?author=Nathan+Gay&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Kilmar+Abrego+Garcia%E2%80%99s+Journey+From+Maryland+Man+To+Uganda+Man%3A+The+Definitive+Timeline">plans</a> to deport him to Uganda.
“This morning, I joined CBS to report the facts about Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Instead, CBS shamefully edited the interview to whitewash the truth about this MS-13 gang member and the threat he poses to American public safety,” Noem posted to X on Sunday after the interview was aired. “Watch for the part of my interview that @CBS tried to cover up.”
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This morning, I joined CBS to report the facts about Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Instead, CBS shamefully edited the interview to whitewash the truth about this MS-13 gang member and the threat he poses to American public safety.
Watch for the part of my interview that <a href="https://twitter.com/CBS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CBS</a> tried to… <a href="https://t.co/28fsGZug48">pic.twitter.com/28fsGZug48</a>
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) <a href="https://twitter.com/Sec_Noem/status/1962256536475926676?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 31, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The move by CBS News to change its interview format comes shortly after President Donald Trump secured a major victory over the network, as CBS agreed to settle a lawsuit with the president for $18 million over another editing scandal. Trump sued CBS after the network edited a “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris to make one of her answers sound more favorable than it was.

CBS News

CBS News Alters ‘Face The Nation’ Editing Policy After Kristi Noem Calls Out Network

Department of Homeland Security

Kilmar Abrego Garcia

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The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) confirmed Friday it will cease operations after Republicans in Congress eliminated $1.1 billion in federal funding for the organization, which has been a primary financial source for NPR and PBS.
“Despite the extraordinary efforts of millions of Americans who called, wrote, and petitioned Congress to preserve federal funding for CPB, we now face the difficult reality of closing our operations,” CPB President and CEO Patricia Harrison <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/08/01/cpb-npr-pbs-corporation-public-broadcasting">said</a> in a statement.
The organization notified employees that most staff positions would be eliminated by the end of the fiscal year on September 30.
“CPB remains committed to fulfilling its fiduciary responsibilities and supporting our partners through this transition with transparency and care,” Harrison added.
Founded in 1967, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a nonprofit tasked with doling out government funds to local radio and TV stations around the country.
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The CPB had already been approved for $535 million in government funding this year before the funding was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-house-delivers-trumps-9b-cut-to-global-aid-and-public-broadcasting-gets-final-approval">clawed back</a>, with millions of dollars going directly to NPR and PBS, to the anger of many conservatives.
“It is very important that all Republicans adhere to my Recissions [sic] Bill and, in particular, DEFUND THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING (PBS and NPR), which is worse than CNN &amp; MSDNC put together,” Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/taking-back-control-senate-votes-to-claw-back-9b-from-foreign-aid-public-broadcasting">said</a> in a post on Truth Social in mid-July.
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As The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/taxpayer-funded-pbs-show-pushes-93-anti-trump-bias-study-finds">reported</a>, a Media Research Center (MRC) study found the taxpayer-funded PBS program “Washington Week with The Atlantic” consistently exhibited a staggering 93% negative bias against Republicans and the Trump administration over three months, despite claiming to provide “objective” political coverage.
“The panelists spent 83 minutes opining on Republicans, focusing on Trump and his administration, in 93% negative fashion (77 minutes negative, six minutes positive),” the MRC report reads.
House Republicans <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/anti-american-airwaves-gop-lawmakers-grill-nprpbs-execs-over-institutional-bias">grilled</a> NPR chief executive Katherine Maher in July on the organization’s bias against conservatives, focusing in particular on the cover-up of the Hunter Biden laptop story during the 2020 election, which Maher attempted to backtrack on.
Former NPR senior business editor Uri Berliner, who resigned after publishing an essay critical of the network’s leftward shift, was referenced by Republican lawmakers as further evidence of the outlet’s bias, The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/npr-editor-who-accused-network-of-liberal-bias-resigns">reported</a>.
In a text message to The New York Times, he wrote that he believes the organization should “openly acknowledge and embrace its progressive orientation” and decline federal support, contradicting Maher’s claims of NPR’s supposed objectivity.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting will cease all operations by January 2026, in a major blow to both broadcasters.
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US-BUSINESS-NPR

Corporation For Public Broadcasting To Shut Down After Trump, Congress Pull Federal Funding

Congress

Corporation for Public Broadcasting

Poltiics

CNN&#8217;s chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour said this week that she prepared for a trip to the U.S. as if she were going to North Korea.
The British-Iranian journalist, 67, said she was &#8220;afraid&#8221; to travel to the land of the free to give an address at Harvard University last month.
&#8220;I have to tell you, when I went to Harvard to give this speech, and it was just a few days ago last week, I must say, I was afraid,&#8221; Amanpour said Wednesday on her podcast “The Ex Files,” which she hosts with her ex-husband, James Rubin, a former State Department official.
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🚨CNN hack journo Christiane Amanpour compares coming to the US to North Korea:
“I took a burner phone. Imagine that!” <a href="https://t.co/ash7S47rjG">pic.twitter.com/ash7S47rjG</a>
&mdash; Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) <a href="https://twitter.com/WesternLensman/status/1931005279300415611?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 6, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;I&#8217;m a foreigner, I don&#8217;t have a green card, I&#8217;m not an American citizen, I&#8217;m fairly prominent, and I literally prepared to go to America as if I was going to North Korea,&#8221; she said.
Amanpour has previously reported from war zones, including during the Gulf and Bosnian wars.
&#8220;I took a burner phone, Jamie, imagine that,&#8221; Amanpour told her ex-husband during the podcast.
She said she did not take her regular cell phone or her iPad, and she had &#8220;nothing on the burner phone except a few numbers&#8221; including those for her assistant, her ex-husband, her son, and a CNN lawyer.
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/gift/?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=wisepops&amp;utm_campaign=dad&amp;utm_content=fathersdaygiftpopups" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gift Dad an All Access Membership. Use code DAD40 at checkout to save 40%!</a>
&#8220;I was really afraid. I&#8217;d even talked to the CNN security person, because I&#8217;ve heard that many, including British citizens, are being stopped at the border and questioned for hours and hours and hours,&#8221; Amanpour said.
However, she admitted she encountered no such issues on her trip.
“So, huge sigh of relief I breathed, but wow, can you imagine if I’m afraid, what do others think?” she said.
Amanpour previously sparked controversy when she compared the Trump administration to Nazis in 2020.
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This is ⁦⁦@camanpour on⁩ ⁦<a href="https://twitter.com/CNN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CNN</a>⁩ comparing Trump’s tenure to Nazi Germany. How the hell is this sort of prejudice tolerated on mainstream media? 
Third rate rubbish. <a href="https://t.co/EG9eB9vQWo">pic.twitter.com/EG9eB9vQWo</a>
&mdash; Ben Habib (@benhabib6) <a href="https://twitter.com/benhabib6/status/1326965584781828096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 12, 2020</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;This week, 82 years ago, Kristallnacht happened,&#8221; she said at the beginning of her CNN show days after the 2020 presidential election. Kristallnacht or the &#8220;Night of Broken Glass&#8221; was a 1938 Nazi attack on Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues.
&#8220;It was the Nazis&#8217; warning shot across the bow of our human civilization that led to genocide against a whole identity, and in that tower of burning books, it led to an attack on fact, knowledge, history and truth,&#8221; Amanpour continued. &#8220;After four years of a modern-day assault on those same values by Donald Trump, the Biden-Harris team pledges a return to norms, including the truth.&#8221;
Jewish advocacy groups criticized Amanpour&#8217;s comments, one <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/cnn-under-fire-segment-comparing-trumps-tenure-nazi-germany-1547258" target="_blank" rel="noopener">asking</a> her to &#8220;stop using the horrors of the Holocaust to justify an agenda.&#8221;

The National Board Of Review Annual Awards Gala – Arrivals

‘As If I Was Going To North Korea’: British CNN Reporter Says She Was ‘Afraid’ To Travel To U.S.

Harvard

North Korea

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